


Flipped Views

by Honeybadger_489



Category: Red vs. Blue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 15:14:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15933038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honeybadger_489/pseuds/Honeybadger_489
Summary: Despite being very annoyed that he is female in this recursion of the memory unit, Epsilon decides to give it a go without hitting the reset button. One, because well he supposes this is a one-in-a-lifetime situation and two, well he can mess with people.Only Tucker keeps hitting on him, Simmons flees in terror, Sarge refuses to fight him, with only Grif, Donut and Caboose not really acting any different.He might have some regrets but a talk from an unexpected ally makes him rethink things.





	Flipped Views

**Author's Note:**

> While I technically got the next chapter for Wayward Scion finished, I've decided to take a small week break. Maybe get a few chapters ahead so I am not writing them at 2 AM the night prior. Annnyways, this is one of my favorite fanfics that I have written, taking place shortly after the Season 14 episode, Get Bent. It was a fun 'what-if' I was throwing around that didn't have a clear path for what to have happened, even coming to a full stop on writing for a few months, until I realized where I wanted the conversation to go and finished it up.

He had to admit that this iteration of the recursion had been, if nothing else, an eye opener. For example, Epsilon suddenly felt pity for any women who had to spent more than five minutes with Tucker. He was still pretty stumped at how he had managed to get such a huge thing wrong such as his biological sex wrong but he did suppose that it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

While he had been originally pissed and flabbergasted that he managed to make himself female somehow, he had decided against taking the easy route and just reset the entire iteration and hope for one where he didn’t keep messing simple things up. It was a one in a lifetime situation and he figured he might as well make the most of it. He did have a few iterations where he did try to kill everybody out of sheer boredom - why not have another ‘loose’ one. 

He had already messed up the timeline this go-around anyways. He doubted Tex - well, the Tex he wanted - was going to show up so he had skipped the whole part of Caboose killing him and just ended unleashed Sheila and him onto the Reds to get their flag back without that whole song and dance. At least doing that he had learned that apparently the one thing he had messed up was his own sex this time as the Reds were their normal male selves.

It was doing these iterations over and over that he had noticed small differences from the original memory the Alpha had accidently given him when him and Wash had first stumbled across that unit Epsilon had been stored in. They were things that were almost always the same despite a few hiccups in his memories here and there when creating these simulations. Donut was always in his pink armor from the start and Caboose was, well, Caboose.

While Epsilon didn’t have the full memories of the Alpha - he just had enough uncovered to piece together the events of ‘Blood Gulch’, he knew that he had at least met Donut once when the soldier had been in standard red armor and Caboose...Caboose hadn’t always been a complete idiot. He hadn’t been the sharpest, but he certainly wasn’t as dumb as he was now.

From what Epsilon could guess, it was part of the fact that Church - the original Alpha that is - had simply known the two with those quirks the longest compared to what they were like before. Those two things barely changed the way everything worked out so it was easier to keep them the same in each of these iteration. Which raised the question of how he was able to keep that straight but kept messing up small - and sometimes very big - details.

Which brought him back to his sex issue. While he technically didn’t have a biological sex in the first place due to the whole ‘AI’ thing, having always thought and presented himself as male...It was really weird being in a leaner, feminine body. He was still as strong as he was before… Which, granted, hadn’t been very strong. He preferred his sniper rifle for a reason even if he couldn’t aim for shit - he was not very physically strong.

The only thing that changed was he was now in a female body. Even that really only changed everybody’s view on him and how they treated him as he was clear on them referring to him as a ‘he’ no matter what. He hadn’t really interacted with the Reds - he was keeping in mind that they weren’t friendly after the disaster of the last iteration. All he knew that Simmons ran away when he showed up, Sarge had refused to fight him and Grif didn’t care in the slightest. Out of everybody, Donut’s reaction was the most curious as he had seemed excited about...Something.

It was his fellow Blues that he had the greatest feeling for their reaction and their option on him. Tucker, when he wasn’t flirting with him, seemed honestly confused. He would stumble over his words every time Epsilon bothered to correct his pronoun and was having trouble grasping it. But really, he wasn’t surprised. For Tucker, he had known this version of Church for almost a year at this point and he - or well, she - had always presented herself as female.

But now that he was making conscious choices in this timeline, Tucker suddenly had to deal with a pronoun switch and the realization that the girl he had a crush on was now a trans man. As far as he could tell, it was really messing with Tucker’s feelings and it was kinda one of the perks of it. Tucker was nothing but confident in his sexually so it was throwing him off to have sexual feelings for a man, no matter what his body was and it was fun to watch the confusion.

And then there was Caboose. Caboose, for the most part, was taking it pretty well. He would stumble over pronouns but would always hastily correct himself if he caught it or would apologize if Epsilon had pointed it out. Of course, he was pretty sure Caboose didn’t have the greatest grasp that something like this wasn’t ‘normal’ so was just treating it like a normal thing and...Well, bless him for that.

“Oh! I was hoping to see you up here!”

A voice cut through Epsilon’s thoughts, causing him to jump as his hands flew toward the sniper rifle on his lap. He quickly calmed himself however when he recognized it, turning his attention to stare at the soldier that had somehow managed to sneak up on him despite the bright pink armor he was wearing. 

“Uh...Hi,” Epsilon said after a few quiet moments, having to mentally remember to himself that he had to act like he didn’t know Donut - they hadn’t met properly yet. “I’m pretty sure your commanding officer won’t be happy with you ‘fratizing with a dirty Blue.’” 

He had to restrain himself from wincing at his voice, at how unfamiliar it sounded but also the odd reverb it had. To him, he could hear his normal voice beneath it along with his higher-pitch feminine one but had come to realize that the others just heard his ‘female’ voice.

Donut titled his head to the side, looking completely amused despite being coated head to toe in amor as he planted his hands on his hips. “Pfff, Sarge can say whatever he likes but I like to get dirty anyhow!” Donut proclaimed, as he quickly took a spot at Epsilon’s side. “Besides, I think it's important for people like us to stick together!’

“People like us?”

“Trans men, of course!” Epsilon’s eyes widen as Donut leaned to the side, wrapping an arm over the Blue’s shoulder. 

Oh. He had completely forgotten that Donut was trans. The memory of his - or well the Alpha’s - first friendly encounter with the pink armored soldier came to mind and the following encounters. He had just stormed out of the Blue’s base due to not being able to handle another harsh word from Tucker that had been about Tex. He had still been grieving and he was still stuck speaking Spanish. He had ran into Donut, who had seemed rather understanding about his inability to speak English, how it reminded him of somebody on their team that had recently disappeared…

It was where he learned that Donut had very loose understanding of the Spanish language. Misunderstanding his words for wildly and very off things but yet they did somehow had a heart to heart. It was enough that he had gone looking for Donut again once they had fixed his language switch and the two truly got to know each other, bonding over odd things and each coming out in their own way.

Donut was trans and Church - every version - was bi. 

Him being bi wasn’t the biggest scandal in the world but he had doubts on own his team would react so he had chosen to keep it to himself. Tucker was very proud - and very vocal - about how straight he was. And if Tucker was bi, then he was in very deep denial about his attraction to men. And Caboose...Well, he wasn’t sure Caboose would care but he was also sure that Caboose wouldn’t truly understand. And also Caboose had been going through his odd mood swings that they hadn’t known the cause of back then.

Donut, however, hadn’t technically come out to his team. They knew he was male but they weren’t aware that he was biological female. They were almost always in their power armor, they weren’t going to notice as Donut was wearing the standard male version. They knew he was a man, just not a trans man...Which, Epsilon supposed was the best outcome for that.

He blinked, coming back to his senses as he tried to think of what to say in response to that. Lucky for him, he was an AI still so being lost in his memories still only meant not even a second had past in Donut’s perception of the world. “Oh, I, uh...Shit, didn’t know that you were trans as well.”

“Yup! I mean, everybody in this canyon has known me as male but I can’t imagine it's easy for you deciding to just transition! It certainly wasn’t easy trying to convince everybody back home to refer to me by my new pronouns when I first came out!’

Epsilon simply nodded his head at that, well aware of Donut’s backstory but he had to act like it was his first time hearing it. But then he paused, something sticking out at him. “Say, how did you know that I was trans?” 

“You mean other than the fact that you were screaming at everybody that you were male when you attacked our base the other day when they kept calling you a girl?” Donut pointed out, a light teasing in his tone. “I mean that pretty much gave it away. But don’t worry, I am sure they will all come around one day!”

For a second, he was tempted to point out that it didn’t matter when they all would come around as he wasn’t planning to remain in this ‘reality’ forever but refrained. Nobody ever really got when he tried to explain that this was all just a simulation for his own benefit of tracking down Tex. He had explained it to Tucker a handful of times and he was certain he would have to explain it a few more times in the future.

That was one thing that sucked about being trapped in your own memories - that he could have these meaningful conversations with the others but in the end, it was all in his own head and they wouldn’t remember it onto the next iteration. It was odd how powerful memories could be. It was easy to forget in the moments of talking to the others that they simply didn’t exist. These versions was just an echo of their real selves.

Then again, he supposed in the end he was just an echo of somebody else. He wasn’t the Alpha. He wasn’t Doctor Leonard Church. He was just an AI that was crafted in the likeness of the original and then turned into another person to fill a void in Caboose’s heart. He could call himself Epsilon all he wanted, but he had doubts that the real Reds and Blues would ever think of him as that but instead would only see himself as their Church.

“...You really think so?” he finally said with a sigh, tilting his head to stare at the halo that stretched over the canyon. “I mean...Tucker is the one having the most trouble with it. He just doesn’t...Get it, I guess. Doesn’t understand how I could go from being a woman to identifying myself as a man. But...Gender is just a ficker thing, isn’t it? In the end, it is just something we all choose for ourselves.”

Donut leaned forward, planting his hand on Epsilon’s shoulder. “It's hard for him. He’s always seen you as one thing, it can be challenging to accept change. It's like...To him, you’re a whole new person and he just doesn’t know what to do with that because he expects - maybe even wants you - to be the old you.”

Epsilon glanced over at Donut, his eyes narrowing as he wondered if Donut had any idea of what he was saying. Then again, this was all in Epsilon’s mind...Maybe this was his way of dealing with his fear of being a replacement of Church instead of being able to be his own person. “You wouldn’t happen to have any suggestions for that, would you?”

The pink soldier leaned backwards, a thoughtful hum escaping him as he folded his arms across his plated chest. “Well...Give them time. If they can’t really get it, then shoving it down their throat won’t help. Small corrections if they mess up but let them be the one to accept it. I mean, if you honestly find you can’t stand the wrong pronoun but they aren’t just getting it...Then, I dunno, then you can be a little more strict about it. But if you don’t mind being referred to as a girl sometimes, then just let them come to their own conclusion.”

“...Must be easier when they don’t know the previous you.”

“Sure, sometimes. I mean, it sucks when all the others make jokes about me being a girl sometimes when they don’t know the truth and...Well, I guess I am honestly scared to correct them. I like being one of the guys. I wasn’t surrounded by so many men before in my life, it's really nice. I hate to think that Simmons would be scared of me or Sarge wouldn’t be willing to be a little rough.”

Epsilon frowned to himself as he leaned forward, musing softly to himself. Did he really mind being seen as Church to the others? It wasn’t so bad here - he was just playing out the Alpha’s memories most of the time other than for when they went off the script like this recursion but out there, there would be new memories to form. He might have been the memory of the Alpha in the end, but he was also certain of who he was - of what he was as an AI. He was...So much more than the Alpha in some ways. But...He had the fond memories of the Alpha’s time with the others. 

“Thanks, Donut,” he finally sighed after a while, straightening up a bit as he pushed himself away from the edge and scooped up his sniper rifle. “I really needed that. It's...Nice to have another perspective on things.”

“Anytime, Church!” Donut hummed back, kicking his feet as he titled his helmet to stare up at the AI. “And trust me, I’ll be happy to be of help day or night! Just call and I’ll come right over to soothe any problems you might be having!”

Epsilon stood there for a few seconds, not even sure how to exactly respond to that before he dipped his head and started down the hill toward Blue Base. It was tempting to end this version of the recursion right then and there as he was pretty sure that talk with Donut was maybe the best thing he was going to get out of it but… 

Well, there wasn’t any harm in trying out Donut’s theory, was there?


End file.
